“I don’t do this for fun.” Patients Are Hopeful Texas Will Expand Access to Medical Cannabis – El Paso Herald-Post

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Joshua Raines worried about going to his sonâ€™s choir concert in December â€” not because of his son, but because he himself would be sitting among throngs of people, which was sure to raise his anxieties.

Ultimately, he decided to go. But it wasnâ€™t long before the Army veteranâ€™s hand began shaking â€” a seizure warning sign. He smoked a cigarette outside, but quickly realized that wasnâ€™t the comfort he sought.

So he left the concert early, returned to his Parker County home and turned on his cannabis vape pen.

Raines said he only uses his pen when his tremors become debilitating or when he needs to calm his anxieties. Sometimes he can go days without it, but at his peak, he was using his pen â€śall day.â€ť

â€śI try to use as little of it as possible because, you know, itâ€™s illegal,â€ť he said. â€śI donâ€™t want my kids to know me for that. They know that Iâ€™m fighting to make it legal, but at the same time they know me as the soldier daddy. I fought for the laws, I didnâ€™t break the lawsâ€ť.

â€śI donâ€™t do this for fun. I donâ€™t do this for a party,â€ť he added. â€śI legitimately treat this as a medication.â€ť

Raines uses a cannabis vape pen containing fast-acting drops containing THC and CBD when his tremors become debilitating and to calm his anxiety. Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson

Under state law, itâ€™s illegal for Raines to use his pen â€” which contains fast-acting drops of THC, the psychoactive element in marijuana, and CBD, a non-euphoric component of marijuana. But some Texas lawmakers are proposing changing that during the legislative session that begins Tuesday, and Raines is pinning his hopes that by the time the Legislature adjourns in May it will have made his medical regimen legal in the state.

Some advocates say Raines has reason to be optimistic, in large part because of what happened in the Texas Capitol four years earlier.

A rocky start

State Rep.Â Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth, was on the floor of the Texas House on May 18, 2015 hoping to succeed where many before her had failed. The former nurse was trying to convince the conservative Texas House to open up the state to medical cannabis in the most narrow way possible.

â€śIt is also not something you can get high on. It has a low risk of abuse,â€ť Klick told her colleagues during the floor debate. â€śThis is not something that can be smoked. It is ingested orally.â€ť

Fellow RepublicansÂ expressed concernsÂ that increased access to any component of marijuana would jeopardize public safety and lead to full-blown legalization â€” a sentiment still echoed by many today. At one point during the debate, state Rep.Â Mark Keough, R-The Woodlands, yelled, â€śThis is a bad bill.â€ť

During the signing, AbbottÂ saidÂ heâ€™s â€śconvinced that Texas should not legalize marijuana, nor should Texas open the door for conventional marijuana to be used for medicinal purposes.

â€śAs governor, I will not allow it.â€ť

Joshua Raines, combat veteran and medical marijuana advocate, poses for a portrait with his Purple Heart. He was wounded in Afghanistan in October 2010. Upon his return, he experienced complicated feelings towards his accolades, at one point putting them in the trash. Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson for The Texas Tribune

Klickâ€™s bill legalized products containing high levels of CBD and low levels of THC for Texans with intractable epilepsy whose symptoms have not responded to federally approved medication.

Under the law, Texans with intractable epilepsy only qualify for the oil if theyâ€™ve tried two FDA-approved drugs and found them to be ineffective. Patients also must be permanent state residents and get approval from two specialized neurologists listed on theÂ Compassionate Use Registry of Texas.

Roughly 160,000 Texans have intractable epilepsy â€” less than one percent of the stateâ€™s total population.

Only 576 people in the Compassionate Use Registry have been issued a prescription as of Dec. 17, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Yet with the dispensaries now in place, advocates argue, tens of thousands of others stand to benefit from the product those facilities are now legally producing.

â€śEvery state surrounding Texas has passed legislation allowing patients safe and legal access to cannabis,â€ť Heather Fazio, the director for Texans for Responsible Marijuana Policy, said. â€śThereâ€™s something wrong with us not having the same freedom that those in surrounding states have.â€ť

But the Sheriffâ€™s Association of Texas opposes any further legalization of marijuana. Many law enforcement officials deal with the social costs of the drug, said Jackson County Sheriff A.J. â€śAndyâ€ť Louderback, who is also legislative director of the association.

â€śItâ€™s not good and healthy for Texans â€” or Americans for that matter,â€ť he said.

Louderback was also quick to note that any bills aimed at loosening the stateâ€™s restrictions on marijuana will face intense political scrutiny from lawmakers in a largely conservative state.

â€śThe way to open the door to legalization is through medical marijuana,â€ť he said. â€śOur state leaders are very aware of where we have stood for years on marijuana use and the legalization of marijuana â€” which we think is the end game on all of these processes that are taking place.â€ť

The bill would allow doctors to treat medical cannabis like any other medicine and also remove the 0.5 percent cap on the amount of the psychoactive element in marijuana known as THC that medical cannabis products sold under the Compassionate Use Act are legally allowed to contain.

â€śIt doesnâ€™t make sense that politicians are picking winners and losers among patients.â€ť

Plants of marijuana at Compassionate Cultivation in Austin, one of Texasâ€™ three licensed dispensaries. The dispensary serves patients throughout Texas. Marjorie Kamys Cotera

Meanwhile, Texans like Raines who currently donâ€™t qualify say theyâ€™re in a no-win situation: Either theyÂ use cannabis and risk getting caught â€” to avoid that, Raines said he usually smokes at home as long as his kids arenâ€™t around â€”Â or take prescription medication that often comes with unpleasant side-effects.

Raines left the Army in 2011 after back-to-back tours â€” the first in Iraq and the next in Afghanistan where he said he got â€śblown up quite a bit.â€ť But he left the military with more than a Purple Heart. Since coming home, heâ€™s endured seizures, paranoia and post-traumatic stress disorder. Doctors put him on nearly a dozen different opioids to offset his pain, but Raines said they made him â€śa real assholeâ€ť or â€ślike a zombie.â€ť At one point, he remembers telling his wife to divorce him.

â€śI just wasnâ€™t a good dad or a good husband,â€ť he said.

Raines had reached his breaking point when he found two activities â€” using his cannabis pen and exercising â€” that, together, drastically improved his quality of life. Now he spends most of his days at home, where heâ€™s able to work at as a motion graphics artist.

Dawn Brooks is another Texan who found herself at a similar crossroads after a series of surgeries starting in 2011.

â€śI was a mess,â€ť she said, laughing at the memory. â€śIt was a real tough time.â€ť

The now 67-year-old from Pflugerville underwent four surgeries in a five-year period â€” first her right knee, then her left hip, then her left knee and finally her shoulder. She tried the opioids that doctors prescribed for her but they made her feel like she was â€śin a fog.â€ť Thatâ€™s when she turned to marijuana.

â€śAs a senior, we canâ€™t stop the aging process, but we can help improve our quality of life,â€ť Brooks said.

Patrick Tidalgo, the general manager for Knox Medical in Schulenburg, one of Texasâ€™ three licensed dispensaries, said his business hasnâ€™t run into any problems with the DPS since itÂ made its first delivery of cannabis oil to a young childÂ in February â€” one of the many reasons heâ€™s in favor of an expansion bill passing in 2019.

â€śWe believe its patientsâ€™ rights that they decide what they put in their body. CBD is non-euphoric so thereâ€™s very little to no chance of abuse,â€ť Tidalgo said. â€śHereâ€™s a plant, a natural drug, that can help treat medical conditions that humans experience. Why not expand that and give more people access to it?â€ť

â€śUnfortunately, itâ€™s politics at play.â€ť

Texas is one of several states where marijuana is still illegal, and the state remains reluctant to move forward on legislation that would legalize its recreational use. More than 30 states allow the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, according to theÂ National Conference of State Legislatures. Texas is one of 13 states that only allow for â€ślow THC, high CBDâ€ť products for medical situations in limited circumstances.

According to the latestÂ University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, 31 percent of the stateâ€™s registered voters would legalize marijuana for only medical purposes. Only 16 percent said possession of marijuana should remain illegal under any circumstances.

â€śPeople are seeing that this issue is about people. Itâ€™s not about politics,â€ť Fazio said. â€śTexans with debilitating illnesses are deprived access and weâ€™d like to see that change.â€ť

Unsuccessful bills in 2017 included one to replace criminal penalties for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana with a civil fine of up to $250 and another that wouldâ€™ve created a specialty court for certain first-time marijuana possession offenders.

State Rep.Â Harold Dutton, D-Houston, who has been filing failed marijuana measures in the Texas House since 2003, said one of the reasons these bills never became law is because lawmakers â€śdonâ€™t want to appear soft on crime.â€ť

â€śIn consequence,â€ť he said, â€śthey donâ€™t do what they know they should. Texas needs to finally get the message that weâ€™re destroying too many young peopleâ€™s lives having these antiquated laws on marijuana.â€ť

Looking ahead, whether any expansion bill moves forward is likely to come down to three men: the governor, lieutenant governor and state Rep.Â Dennis Bonnen,Â the presumptive next House speakerÂ â€” most of whom have not been vocal on a medical cannabis expansion measure since the dispensaries have opened.

At a gubernatorial debate in September, Abbott said that after speaking with the parents of children with autism and veterans and about the possible benefits of medical cannabis, he would consider an expansion bill. However, he said heâ€™s seen the medicine get abused in states where itâ€™s already legal, so heâ€™s â€śstill not convinced yet.â€ť

Bonnen, an Angleton Republican, didnâ€™t co-sponsor the expansion bill in 2017 nor did he sign onto the 2015 Compassionate Use Act. Through a spokesperson, he declined to comment on whether heâ€™d support an expansion bill this session. His office said he wouldnâ€™t weigh in on what issues heâ€™d tackle until the 150-member body votes him in asÂ Joe Strausâ€™ successor next week.

A legislative appetite and renewed support

Though marijuana bills havenâ€™t made a splash in sessions past, shifting politics and public opinion is giving lawmakers and advocates reason to believe the 2019 session might be different.

So far Texas legislators have filed more than a dozen cannabis-related measures, including one to eliminate criminal penalties for Texans found with small amounts of all the drug and another allowing farmers to grow and sell hemp as long as theyâ€™re in compliance with federal law â€” which was recently signed into law by PresidentÂ Donald Trump. More pro-marijuana bills are expected to get filed in the coming weeks.

â€śThere is definitely renewed momentum. I do think thereâ€™s an appetite for this,â€ť Isaac said. â€śItâ€™s costing our law enforcement and our courts on the criminal justice side, but its also costing folks on the medicinal side when you know that you have constituents treating their children with THC nasal spray. Do we really want to treat those parents as criminals?â€ť

Joshua Raines (left) and his son go through the combat veteranâ€™s medals in their dining room. Raines, a medical marijuana advocate and user, served in Afghanistan and was wounded in 2010 causing severe PTSD and seizures. Leslie Boorhem-Stephenson

â€śIn the interim thereâ€™s been more data that has come out which is why I would support some of the other conditions being added,â€ť Klick said. â€śThe opinions on this medicine have changed. There are clearly individuals that have benefited from it.â€ť

Individuals, Raines said, like him. And though heâ€™s cautiously optimistic, the Army veteran is hopeful lawmakers this year will finally pass legislation to give him some relief.

â€śIâ€™m a paranoid person because of the war and my anxieties now kind of add to it when Iâ€™m in public, so Iâ€™m stuck here,â€ť Raines said. â€śIf this bill passes, I could actually go out in public with my kids and family. It would allow me to be a member of society again. I donâ€™t want to have to hide.â€ť

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